Originally, any form of government not headed by an hereditary monarch. In modern American usage, the term
usually refers more specifically to a form of government (a.k.a.
“representative democracy”) in which ultimate political power is
theoretically vested in the people but in which popular control is exercised
only intermittently and indirectly through the popular election of government
officials and/or delegates to a legislative assembly rather than directly
through frequent mass assemblies or legislation by referendum.